Beloved and Faithful: Forgotten Giants of Christian History | George Liele

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Beloved and Faithful shares the true stories of Christians whose names may be forgotten, but whose biographies will challenge you today. With a historian's eye and a pastor's heart, Aaron Menikoff brings these men and women to life, revealing how God uses ordinary and imperfect people for His glory. This book invites you to see that true greatness is not found in fame or fortune, but in steadfast love and faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

-- Excerpt read by Dr. Linda England Duckworth

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Transcript

A Fruitful Ministry

The Grace of God had Given Me Rest

Extraordinary Times

From Slave to Shepherd

Speaker 0:16

Chapter 3. Accidental Missionary. George Liele (1750 - 1828). What do you appreciate about your pastor? More likely than not, it's his faithfulness to study and teach the Bible, his love for you and the other members of the congregation, and his efforts to see the gospel spread beyond the four walls of your church building. God gives some pastors a far-reaching ministry, but it's the ordinary work of our shepherds for which we are most thankful. He brings you the word week in and week out. He gets on his knees to lift you up in prayer. He preaches your mother's funeral. George Liele, America's first missionary, pastored a flock first and foremost. Yes, his ministry bore amazing fruit, but not because he had extraordinary talents. He evangelized, preached, shepherded, and raised up leaders who would do more of the same. Like a cook following the directions on the back of a box, Liele obeyed God's simple commands. Liele won the admiration and affection of Christians in his day and age because he kept his hand to the plow. Having grown up in colonial America and becoming an itinerant preacher in the South, he went to Jamaica, where he started and strengthened churches until the day he died. The mettle of even ordinary pastors and missionaries is forged in the fire of suffering. Liele is no exception. Life challenged him in extraordinary ways. He is a forgotten giant whose faithful and fruitful ministry deserves your attention. A fruitful ministry. Liele's life began in Virginia. We know nothing about his mother, but his father may have been a Christian who challenged him to fear the Lord from a very young age. Little Liele tried to obey, but he mainly wanted to avoid hell. Like many children, the terror of eternal damnation kept Liele from being as bad as he could be. However, this desire to avoid punishment did not lead to genuine saving faith. The gospel is about so much more than simply not going to hell. It's about worshiping the one true God. Sadly, Liele lost his parents when he was still a child. He moved to the northeast corner of Georgia, not far from Augusta. In 1773, at the age of 23, he heard the gospel preached. He finally understood salvation to be more than a ticket out of hell. A few months later, God removed the scales from his eyes, and Liele could see the grace of God through the cross of Christ. You're about to hear Liele's personal account of his own conversion. Listen carefully. He knew both God's justice and his mercy, God's wrath and his grace. The more I heard or read, the more I saw that I was condemned as a sinner before God, till at length I was brought to perceive that my life hung by a slender thread. And if it was the will of God to cut me off at that time, I was sure I would be found in hell. As sure as God was in heaven, I saw my condemnation in my own heart, and I found no way wherein I could escape the damnation of hell, only through the merits of my dying Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here is a man who took the Lord seriously. When God saved him, Liele experienced a love and joy he'd never known before. He professed his newfound faith publicly, received baptism, and joined a church. Like most new converts, Liele refused to keep the faith to himself. He evangelized and discipled. He led unbelievers and new believers through hymns, the way someone today might take a new believer through a solid Christian book. Eventually, members of his church grew so impressed with his ministry and his teaching that they wanted to hear more from him. His pastor scheduled Liele to preach once every quarter. Soon the church had heard enough. Encouraged by the young man's spiritual gifts, they set him apart for pastoral ministry. Eventually, Liele moved to Savannah, Georgia. For three years he traveled around the city preaching wherever he could. God blessed his ministry with new converts, and Liele established them in healthy congregations. And when he couldn't find a church, Liele started one. A zealous young evangelist, Liele might easily have spent his whole life in the fruitful field of Savannah. God, however, had different plans. The Lord turned his itinerate preacher into a missionary. Liele booked a ship to Jamaica. Now married, he supported his family by working for the government. In his spare time, he planted gospel seeds all over the island. In many ways, his life in Jamaica resembled his life in Georgia. He worked hard to make Christ known. Liele had no time to enjoy the green hills, coral reefs, and sandy beaches of his new home. He focused his energies on gathering new believers into a church. The congregation he started began to grow and the news spread back to the States. Henry Holcomb, editor of America's first Baptist newspaper, praised Liele as the pastor of a large church in Kingston, Jamaica. Though he served as that church's founding pastor, Liele never stopped crisscrossing the aisle to evangelize. He saw hundreds of men and women come to faith. In fact, less than a decade after arriving, he reported that 1,500 new believers now dotted the landscape of this island nation. Anglicans and Methodists had ministered in Jamaica for years, but none had ever seen the kind of fruit borne by the American preacher. His results proved extraordinary, the fruit of ordinary gospel ministry. Liele knew it was not his own gifts that led to such spiritual fruit. The grace of God worked in and through him on the island. I have a right to praise God and to glorify him for the manifold blessing I have received and do still receive from him. The Lord is blessing the work everywhere, and believers are added daily to the church. Today it's easy to be skeptical when we hear reports of hundreds of conversions and church plants. We may wonder if someone has watered down the gospel or lowered the hurdle of repentance. If you've been around long enough, you've heard stories of kids being promised a prize if they walk down the aisle and accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord. You've probably also been told of mass conversions overseas when it turns out they raised their hand after the altar call to get a good meal before returning home. When we hear about the kind of numbers Liele reported, we might conclude he encouraged easy believism, a kind of preaching that denies we have to carry our cross. However, Liele rejected such ploys, schemes, and techniques. He didn't pressure people to believe the gospel. Liele, a committed Baptist, described his ministry in very simple conventional terms. I preach, baptize, administer the Lord's Supper, and travel from one place to another to publish the gospel and settle church affairs. When he saw spiritual fruit, he gave God the glory. Nothing to see here, Liele would have said if asked, except the grace of God at work through the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. He carried the same sober minded approach to shepherding his congregation. Liele held the members of his church accountable to take their role seriously. Every month, when his Jamaican church celebrated the Lord's Supper, he led them in reading aloud their church covenant so they could renew the promises they'd made to God and to one another when they first joined the church. Baptists have used church covenants for generations. These short statements summarize what a sanctified Christian life looks like. A church covenant teaches a congregation to know what the members of a church should expect of one another. A careful shepherd, Liele expected the members he pastored to live a life that matched their profession of faith. This is why he made sure they employed a church covenant as part of their corporate worship. Besides preaching and pastoring, Liele valued the very ordinary but important work of raising up leaders. He sought to obey 2 Timothy 2 2, where Paul told Timothy, What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Liele looked for younger men with the gift of teaching. Some of these preachers had been saved under Liele's own ministry, including a man by the name of David George. Let's leave Liele for just a moment and meet one of the men the Lord used Liele to lead into pastoral ministry. The grace of God had given me rest. George Liele and David George met as kids. In colorful detail, David George described the moments the Lord granted him everlasting life. Once again, this is the kind of testimony you really want to stop and listen carefully. George relays what happened when he heard Liele say this. I felt myself at the disposal of sovereign mercy. At last in prayer to God I began to think that he would deliver me, but I did not know how. Soon after I saw that I could not be saved by any of my own doings, but that it must be by God's mercy that my sins had crucified Christ. And now the Lord took away my distress. I was sure that the Lord took it away because I had such pleasure and joy in my soul that no man could give me. Soon after I heard Brother George Liele preach, on come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. When it ended, I went to him and told him I was so, that I was weary and heavy laden, and that the grace of God had given me rest. Indeed, his whole discourse seemed for me. How many Christians have a testimony mirroring this one? We know conversion is a work of the Holy Spirit in our heart, transferring us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Christ, Colossians one thirteen. God relocates us from spiritual death to spiritual life, and all this because of the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God. If you are a Christian, maybe you recall first hearing, or at least first understanding, this gospel. Anxious and unsettled, George didn't know at first where to turn for salvation. Then God used his friend George Liele to make the gospel clear, and then the Spirit opened up the eyes of his heart so he could turn to the Lord in faith. Liele began to disciple George, once his friend, now his brother. He encouraged George to be bold, to pray for and with the unbelievers in his life. George heeded his spiritual mentor's counsel and excelled in ministry. Soon George began to teach. He must have taught very well because eventually the church elected George to serve as an elder. He would go on to pastor a small church in Silver Bluff, South Carolina, just a few miles from Augusta. With a heart for the nations, George eventually came to see Canada as his mission field. He made the long journey north and preached all over Nova Scotia, in the cities of Halifax and Fredericton. He even sailed to Newfoundland to preach in the city of St. John's. God used George to plant churches wherever he went. His ambitions to see the gospel spread continued to grow. He eventually led a team to Sierra Leone in West Africa. His gospel ministry prospered and God planted a church there too. Liele influenced George to practice and to trust the ordinary means of grace. Of course, it's up to God to take our efforts and produce long-lasting fruit. Surely Liele appreciated the words of Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3 6. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Liele had to wait years to see just how fruitful his young convert would become. This was the 1700s, after all, no telegraph, phones, or email. However, Liele had little time to worry about George since he had more gospel seeds to sow in the field God called him to till. His ministry to Jamaica is even more remarkable when we appreciate that he served at a turning point in American history, the Revolutionary War. Extraordinary Times. In 1774, not long after God saved George Liele, America's first Baptist Association met in Philadelphia. In mid-October, these Baptists called for a time of prayer and fasting in light of what they called this day of public calamity. That calamity, of course, was the war for independence. These Baptists met under a church steeple, while just a few blocks away, the first Continental Congress gathered to make plans for a new nation. Patrick Henry, John Hancock, Sam Adams, and George Washington vigorously debated what actions to take against the British who had been tightening their grip on the colonists. George Liele came to faith in Georgia on the eve of this rebellion. These years shook many Baptists who found themselves on the wrong side of the law. In colonial America, many Christians objected to believers' baptism and an independent church. Infant baptism secured, or so they thought, a citizenry tied to the church and committed to uphold the Ten Commandments. Baptists disagreed, and many thought their dissent would cause an uproar. This is what happened in 1770 when authorities from the town of Ashfield, Massachusetts confiscated hundreds of acres of property when their Baptist owners refused to pay taxes to support the local congregational church. They believed each congregation is independent, and that members should take personal responsibility for the affairs of the church. Taxing citizens to fund churches would produce religious hypocrites. Look at me, I paid my taxes. I must be okay with God. In any event, when the Baptists refused to pay, government officials, undoubtedly congregationalists themselves, brought down the hammer. During this time, help came from the most unlikely source. King George III came to their rescue. This is why some Baptists actually took the British side against the Patriots. Nonetheless, as time went on and the atrocities of the crown mounted, leaders like Isaac Bacchus in the north and Richard Furman in the south led the vast majority of Baptists to side with the revolutionary cause. But not every Baptist was persuaded. Each local church had its own opinions. For example, Baptists in Georgia remained fairly divided. Henry Sharp, for example, who served as a Baptist deacon in the Augusta area, became an officer in the British Army. Sharp fought faithfully for the king, losing first his hand and then his life in battle. What does any of this have to do with George Liele? Deacon Henry Sharp and young George Liele shared membership in the same church. The two became fast friends, and not surprisingly, Liele agreed with Sharp's wartime sympathies. Liele became close to a British colonel by the name of Moses Kirkland, who managed the British evacuation of Savannah. Liele never fought in the war. His battle remained spiritual as he preached the gospel and served the church while the war for independence raged all around him. Liele labored under extraordinary circumstances and in unusual times. He ministered in a day and age when fellow believers who lined up theologically nonetheless had radically different political views. Does this sound familiar? It should. Politics have often been the source of controversy in the church. In the 1770s, genuine Christians believed it was wrong to take up arms against the British Empire. God had, after all, placed King George III on the throne. Meanwhile, true believers on the other side believed King George had forced the Patriots into a just war, so they sided with General Washington. George Liele had to navigate the Christian life and exercise Christian leadership through challenging, stormy waters. However, his biggest challenge was not war, but slavery. From slave to shepherd. Maybe you knew this before hearing this chapter, but George Liele was born a slave. In fact, he wasn't born George Liele at all. He had no last name. Or if he did, he didn't know it. His father's first name was Liele, his mother's Nancy. His first name was Sharp, the name of his master, Henry Sharp. Yes, according to the laws of Georgia, Deacon Sharp owned George Liele. Only after being freed by Sharp did George take his father's first name as his last name. Thus we now know him as George Liele. Liele did not move from Virginia to Georgia for a change of scenery or because his father found a new job. In fact, Liele didn't move with his parents at all. Enslavers separated him from his mom and dad, a common practice that presented a real challenge for Christians who believed God approved of chattel slavery. Chattel refers to property, and that's how many whites were treated their African background neighbors as something to be owned. The Christians who thought George approved of slavery also believed that God created the family. They often questioned the morality of separating families, and thankfully some refused to do it. However, many perpetuated the wicked practice and someone took little George from his parents. This is how he found himself in Georgia and eventually in the home of Henry Sharp. Specifically, Liele came to Burke County, where he attended a church pastored by Matthew Moore. As I mentioned previously, Sharp served as a deacon in Moore's church. Of course, the Lord loves to pull good out of tragedy the way a magician pulls a rabbit out of the hat. He used Moore's preaching to save Liele the slave. Once converted, Liele sought to disciple others. He used hymn lyrics to teach theology because illiterate slaves made up his mission field. Hymns seemed to be the best way to share the gospel with those who couldn't read the Bible for themselves. His ministry caught the attention of Moore and Sharp so their church. Big Buckhead Creek Church soon licensed Liele to preach. For the next three years, Liele ministered on plantations, usually on Sunday evenings. His work proved so fruitful that Sharp freed Liele so that he could devote himself to an itinerant ministry. David George had also been a slave on a plantation in Silver Bluff, South Carolina. The church on that farm was the first black Baptist church in America. Though a white preacher named Waite Palmer organized this church, George, who had been saved under Liele's preaching, became the first full time pastor and the first black Baptist pastor in America. The Revolutionary War caused the church in Silver Bluff to fold. The owner of the plantation likely sided with the revolutionary forces who fled when the British took control of the region. Liele then moved to Savannah, where he continued to preach. If you want to read more about George Liele and other faithful giants like him, click the Amazon link in the description.